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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Regional Multiple Listing Service released the Market Action Report this week and the median sale price for August 2008 was $280,000 this is a 6.7% decrease from the median sale price for August 2007.

The Portland residential real estate market peaked in August 2007 with a median sale price of $300,000. Prices have now fallen 6.7% from that peak.

Months of supply (total inventory/monthly sales) sits at 9.9 months compared to the 6.2 months of supply for the same month last year. A balanced market has about 7 months of supply.

The first graph compares the median and average sale price with the months of supply. Click on any graph for a sharper image.The second graph shows the total supply of homes available for sale. This is simply a calculation of the months closed sales multiplied by the months of supply. There are currently 17,523 homes for sale; this is an increase of 10% from the same month the year before.

The third chart shows closed sales by month. There were 1,770 closed sales during the month; a decrease of 31% from the same month the year before.

The fourth chart shows new listings by month. There were 4,398 new listings during the month; a decrease of 27.1% from the same month the year before.

The final graph shows how affordable the median priced home is for a family of four. History indicates the ratio is usually between 2.5 and 3.0. Prices would have to fall 27.7% from the current median for the index to reach a ratio of 3.0.